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German passenger car market expands in August

Berlin, 02 September 2016

Production and exports show slender year-to-date growth

In August 245,100 passenger cars were newly registered in Germany, exceeding last year’s figure by a good 8 percent. Last month’s result was boosted by two extra working days compared to August 2015. New registrations from January to August showed a rise of nearly 6 percent (2.3 million).

Matthias Wissmann, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), stressed, “The German passenger car market remains dynamic. At present this is supported by the positive overall economic climate in Germany and the good employment figures.”

Domestic incoming orders in August showed a year-on-year increase of 6 percent. This, too, was helped by the extra working days. This year so far, incoming orders from Germany have hovered at last year’s level. Orders from abroad rose by 2 percent last month. From January to August 1 percent more orders arrived from other countries.

As in July, the production and export statistics are distorted because some facilities closed for the summer vacation in July, whereas the break had been in August in 2015. This has a direct effect on the year-by-year comparison.

In August the German plants produced 422,000 passenger cars (+25 percent). In the first eight months of 2016 almost 3.9 million new cars rolled off the production lines – which was 2 percent more than in the same period last year. In August 324,400 units from German production were exported (+20 percent). Accumulated exports since the beginning of the year come to 2.9 million passenger cars (+1 percent).

Wissmann commented: “Despite the strong August figures, we still expect stable development in exports and production. However, the uncertainties seem to have increased following the Brexit vote.”